They made “Kung Fu Panda 4” the Money

The children’s film Kung Fu Panda 4 is a classic example of a fantastic series devolving into a blatant cash grab in real time.

Effortlessness

The film makes no efforts to conceal the fact that they no longer wanted to pay for the voice acting skills of Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Lucie Liu, Seth Rogen, and whoever plays the bird. As in, they literally explain that their characters have all fucked off on their own, and when their animated portrayals make a gratuitous appearance at the end, they don’t even get dignified with a cameo.

The first three films in the Kung Fu Panda series were masterclasses in basic, entertaining, wholesome, and respectable children’s animated films. Butt jokes, fart jokes, fat jokes, and a decent amount of heart peppered the preceding films. Kung Fu Panda 4 relied on the same type of humor, but inexplicably far more immature and far less acceptable. The normally socially harmless films now contended with a pseudo gay-dad joking scheme, which never paid off, even though it was the most prevalent theme of humor. The climax of the film felt like the hastened end of an episode of TV.

The kung-fu based climaxes in the previous films delivered in spades- and sometimes even some of the in-between action scenes were engrossing and inventive. I still go back and watch Tai Lung’s escape, or the final fight from the second Kung Fu panda movie, where the protagonist Po fights an androgynous peacock and its canons. This fourth film has no memorable moments.

The movie may have made a ton of money, but the balance sheet will not make up for the fact that the once-great series of films has now been reduced to a glorified extended episode of its daytime television show. I rate the film

YMMV

Because if you’re a fucking child, you’ll think that the fart joke was hilarious.

Wondering how my rating system works? Let me explain!